“Business as usual is not an option,” said Bert Hofman, chief economist for the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Region. “The consequences of not taking more action to ensure welfare gains from work will increasingly threaten social cohesion and, as growth moderates, will constrain productivity and limit gains in living standards.”

While some countries have made progress — Thailand’s universal healthcare program was held up as an example — others have failed to focus on key areas like early-year schooling.

Truman Packard, one of the report’s authors, said Asian governments often focus on training for specific professions while neglecting education of younger students, which is key to overall productivity gains.

Employers in the region often complain they cannot find people with confidence, leadership and team-building skills.

“You don’t learn these things in university, you learn them in preschool,” Mr. Packard said. “These are skills that never go out of fashion and it doesn’t matter what your economy is producing.”

A mix of poor educational standards and lack of opportunity has led to high youth unemployment, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines. More than 30% of people aged 15-24 are not in employment, education or training in the region, according to the report.

“High rates of disengagement among youth can have a lasting, ‘scarring’ impact on their future economic prospects and ultimately limit the productive potential of a country as a whole,” the report said.

A separate issue is that informal or unofficial forms of work also are common in East Asia Pacific countries, defined as a group of 23 nations from China through Southeast Asia to the Pacific islands. That reduces those employees’ ability to bargain for wage raises and other workplace protections.

The remedies are many. The World Bank said economies that still rely on farming, such as Laos and Myanmar, should focus on boosting agricultural productivity and encouraging non-farm enterprises.

Urbanizing economies like China, Indonesia and Vietnam should focus on improving infrastructure and services, the report said.

Failure to act could have big consequences, according to the bank, which warned that countries in the region are in a race against time to reform their labor markets before aging populations raise costs and pressure economic growth.

“These economies risk growing old before they get rich,” Mr. Packard said.

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